QuoteFilliam H. MuffmanThe only reason Bernie did well was because he started a grass roots movement outside the party.

You just did Bernie a HUGE disservice.

You don't seem to understand that the party is a cap-P Party. The members are supposed to choose their nominee. So you saying that Bernie did well because he went outside the party is just saying that he was all about himself and not about the primary process of the Democratic Party. So WTF, how is that admirable? He knew he couldn't win as an independent so he tried to hijack the Democratic party and it didn't work out. Boo hoo hoo.

QuoteFilliam H. MuffmanThe only reason Bernie did well was because he started a grass roots movement outside the party.

You just did Bernie a HUGE disservice.

You don't seem to understand that the party is a cap-P Party. The members are supposed to choose their nominee. So you saying that Bernie did well because he went outside the party is just saying that he was all about himself and not about the primary process of the Democratic Party. So WTF, how is that admirable? He knew he couldn't win as an independent so he tried to hijack the Democratic party and it didn't work out. Boo hoo hoo.

If he started a grass roots movement outside the party...why wasn't this movement outside the party?

Seriously. I mean, he didn't even claim to be a Democrat. If he was going to be successful, couldn't he have done the same as a third party candidate? Wouldn't that have worked even better, if you think the party was supposedly trying so hard to deep-six him? He could have run for the Sanders party or the Socialist party unopposed, and saved all his resources for the general.

Yes, if the Democrats were so determined to screw him, and he was so sure to beat Trump, then he was an idiot not to run as an Independent and suck up all those disenfranchised Democrats, disgusted Republicans, and cynical Independents.

Sanders tried to win the use of the Democratic machine and their money and their media connections, and when he didn't get it he decided that the very things he had been trying to win were evil. He's trying to play both sides of the coin.

"She (DNC) wouldn't sleep with me. She must be a bitch".

He's a great Senator but HE is the one who needs to @#$%& about 2016, not Clinton.

Hey, working as an outsider, while wearing the label of an insider, worked GREAT for Trump. So, it's a quite viable strategy. Both parties stand ready to be used, and neither seems to have a problem with that. At all.

It would be a simple matter to proclaim a rule that switching parties/leaving parties can't be done under certain conditions. (And if they already exist, they're obviously kinda lax.)

Quotedeckeda
Hey, working as an outsider, while wearing the label of an insider, worked GREAT for Trump. So, it's a quite viable strategy. Both parties stand ready to be used, and neither seems to have a problem with that. At all.

It would be a simple matter to proclaim a rule that switching parties/leaving parties can't be done under certain conditions. (And if they already exist, they're obviously kinda lax.)

What does "the parties stand ready to be used" mean? Yes the major parties each support the candidate who wins the primaries, and one of them is going to be elected president. Our system is much more open and transparent than in the past and there is no group of people in a smoky room deciding who gets to run. (Bernie Bro conspiracies persist but have no basis in fact) We've never elected an independent or a third party candidate in the modern political era so if someone really wants to be President then they have to run as a major party candidate.

The GOP did it's best to stop Donald Trump. Appealing to the worst instincts, he simply beat the other candidates. The party had a BIG problem with that. One of my friends was a "never Trump" delegate to the national GOP convention. She said it was the ugliest process she's ever seen.

And inside the Democrat party people were plenty unhappy with Bernie too.

I have a friend who was a Bernie delegate. She was contacted out of the blue by the Maryland group (which she wasn't part of) because they didn't have enough delegates for the primary ballot and were scratching around trying to find some. So she said, why not? and got sent to the convention and had a great time. However, this does make one wonder how many delegates were also not part of the Revolution but were asked to do so by local groups. Of course, MD is a very Democratic state so YMMV.

Well, I guess it doesn't really matter why I get to choose whether to vote, or not. I still have the freedom to do either, and I made use of that freedom.

I'll be ecstatic if one of the two parties fields a candidate that I can vote for, but so far it looks like they're just trying to figure out the right lies to tell. It amazes me so many people are happy to let them play that game.

edit: I can't think of any reason I shouldn't complain that the dems and repubs chose terrible candidates. Voting for one of the two would do absolutely nothing to change things. Trump being elected has at least caused both parties to reflect, a lot.

Elections are always about trends. Moving the peg in a direction. Anyone who expects some Ultimate Solution granted by any candidate doesn't grok the process of compromise, AND, willingly accepts the peg might get irreversibly moved into Hell.

I won't be waiting around for Prince or Princess Charming the hold office. That's just a little too damn precious. Too much is at stake.